HUMID WEATHER DOESN'T DISCOURAGE RIVERFEST CROWDS

RIVERFEST 1993 HELPS CELEBRATE CITY BICENTENNIAL:

Peter Dybing, St. Louis, helps Arica Stephenson, 5, Perryville, inflate a balloon to make a dog during Riverfest.

Christina Brumbaugh, 15, Cape Girardeau, is Miss Riverfest 1993.

Clockwise from left, Sara Price, 10, Jonesboro, Ill., rides the bumper cars. American Mountain Men group member Jack Martin of Scott City, wears an 1800's costume while firing a .62-caliber flintlock rifle during the black powder shooting demonstration. The Water Street Six jazz band members David Green, left, plays clarinet while Bob Rosenquist plays the cornet on Spanish Street. Kids tumble in the funhouse on the midway. (Photos by Melina A. Mara and Don Shrubshell)

Riverfest '93 drew crowds of people to downtown Cape Girardeau despite hot, humid weather and high water that limited activities along the Mississippi.

Colorful concession stands offered a wide variety of food from funnel cakes to shish kabobs. There were carnival rides and turtle races for the kids. Other attractions included arts and crafts from pottery to wooden Indians and a wide range of music from Dixieland to rock.

Christina Brumbaugh, 15, of Cape Girardeau was crowned Friday as this year's Miss Riverfest.

The celebration concluded Saturday night with a performance by Zaca Creek, a country rock band; and a $7,000 fireworks display. The fireworks were launched from a barge on the Mississippi River.

"I am just real pleased with the crowd," said Peggy Barringer, president of the Riverfest Board of Directors. She said attendance appeared to be up over last year's festival.

Only days after voters rejected riverboat gambling, a group of downtown merchants was out collecting signatures at Riverfest to put the issue on the November ballot.

Downtown merchant David Knight estimated that proponents have secured about 1,500 signatures, many of them collected at Riverfest. The group needs 2,254 signatures of registered voters to put the issue back on the ballot.

Many of those signing the petitions indicated they had not bothered to vote in the June election because they thought the gambling issue would pass, said fellow merchant Evelyn Boardman.

"There is so much potential. We've got the whole river just waiting to be developed for tourism," she said while gathering signatures in front of the downtown clock.

Riverfest drew good crowds both Friday and Saturday night, although organizers said there's no way to estimate the crowd size at such a free-admission event.

"The crowd was bigger (Friday) night that it has been in years and the downtown area has been full of people since 10 a.m.," Barringer said late Saturday afternoon. "The parade (Saturday morning) brought a lot of people down."

In 1991, the last year for which figures were given, it was estimated that about 60,000 people attended Riverfest.

"Everything has gone great," said Barringer. "The weather has held out; lots of families came out; the kids are having a good time."

Only two adverse incidents were reported during the celebration: part of a mural-covered brick wall at the back of the beer garden at Griffin's Cafe & Spirits, 118 Themis, was knocked down (allegedly by a garbage truck) and a game of chance in the carnival area was shut down.

Restaurant owner Wayne Griffin said the brick wall incident apparently occurred between 3-6 a.m. Saturday. He blamed it on a garbage truck. He said it or the dumpster it was emptying apparently struck the wall. The operator then apparently drove off.

"It happened just about daylight because we heard the noise," said Warren Masterson of Scott City, a member of an American Mountain Men group that was camped out in teepees across Spanish Street from Griffin's Cafe.

The accident knocked down about a 15-foot section of the wall.

Griffin said he plans to repair the wall. "I will have to put a new mural on now," he said. The damaged mural, depicting a riverboat on the Mississippi, was painted in 1989.

As to the game of chance, Barringer said: "It was my understanding that the prosecuting attorney determined that it was a game of chance with no skill involved. That's not allowed on the premises."

Cape Girardeau police, including off-duty officers and some on bicycles, patrolled the Riverfest area. As of 5 p.m. Saturday, police had not made any arrests at Riverfest.

This year's Riverfest also paid tribute to Cape Girardeau's bicentennial. The city was founded in 1793.

The Bicentennial Commission and the Postal Service canceled mail with a Cape Girardeau bicentennial stamp Friday and Saturday at a tent on the Riverfest grounds. Postcards with the stamp were also sold there.

Larry Shafer, a marketing representative with the Postal Service, said his office had received about 200 letters from people across the country who had sent postcards along to have them canceled with the special stamp. He said the requests had come from as far away as Brooklyn and Los Angeles.

The American Mountain Men group offered visitors a glimpse of the life of fur trappers who roamed the Rocky Mountains region from 1820 to 1840.

The camp consisted of three teepees set up by the Black Swamp Party of the Missouri Brigade. The Southeast Missouri group consists of about a dozen members.

The American Mountain Men organization has 614 members, with chapters in the United States and abroad. Germany, France, England and Australia are all home to Mountain Men, said Jack Martin.

The 49-year-old Martin, who lives between Scott City and Commerce, is the public works director for the city of Chaffee. He's been in the Mountain Men organization for about 20 years.

But Martin said his interest in such things dates back to his teens. "I've been shooting black powder guns since I was 16 years old."

Scott City's Masterson runs a convenience store. He's been involved with the group for about five years now.

When they're not working, Masterson and Martin can often be found living the life of mountain men, sporting flintlock rifles and "roughing it" at fur-trapper rendezvous.

"We have a lot of fun with it, but we take it very seriously," said Masterson.

"We do a lot of research on it," said Martin, who has read some of the journals of America's real mountain men.

"This is not dress-up. It is not just a muzzle-loading club," said Martin.

"It actually started out as a survival group," noted Masterson. "This is our heritage and we try to keep it alive a little bit."

Martin said they travel to remote rendezvous sites by horseback, eschewing the comforts of modern society. "There are no coolers. There is no preserved food."

Most of the trappers started out from Missouri. During the 1820-1840 period, the mountain men would meet at rendezvous out West and sell their beaver pelts to fur company representatives.

In all, there were about 1,000 mountain men who roamed the Rocky Mountains. Most traveled in 30- to 40-member groups called brigades, said Masterson.

"They did a lot of trading with the Indians," said Martin. "They were nomads. They traveled constantly."

As always, Saturday's turtle races were a popular event. Barringer said about 40 turtles were entered in the contest.

"The track was fast and dry," said Riverfest board member Jay Wolz. The winner of the best-dressed turtle contest was LeAnne Hengst of Cape Girardeau, whose turtle was dressed up as a red, white and blue riverboat.

Barringer said the children's activities proved popular. "At 3 o'clock they were running out of paint, crayon and glue from all the cute little things the kids were making," she said.

Some information for this story was provided by Staff Writer Cathryn Maya.